Sony and Nintendo Are Trying to Adapt to the New Reality

Nintendo Co Ltd and Sony Group Corp’s game division decided to suspend shipments of software and hardware to Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Sony Interactive Entertainment suspended the launch of the racing game “Gran Tourismo 7”. Furthermore, it suspended the operations of the PlayStation Store in the country.

Sony Group also decided to support people in Ukraine. The company donated $2 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children “to support the victims of this tragedy”.

Nintendo is also trying to adapt to the new reality. Interestingly, the company said it is suspending shipping all products to Russia “for the foreseeable future”. Nintendo also delayed the release of “Advance Wars 1+2: Re-boot Camp” because of “recent world events”.

Last week, the company said it put its eShop under maintenance in Russia after its payment provider suspended transactions in Russian roubles. 

Nintendo and other famous companies

Nintendo, Sony, and others are trying to modify their plans. The moves come amid a historic exodus of mostly Western brands from Russia, including Apple and Shell.

Last week, top Japanese carmakers halted exports to Russia and Japanese airlines suspended flights to Europe. Toyota suspended exports to the country and production in Russia as sanctions against Moscow scrambled logistics and severed supply chains. 

Toyota’s decision is very important, to say the least. It is Russia’s top Japanese brand, producing about 80,000 vehicles at its St. Petersburg plant, which employs 2,000 staff.

On Tuesday, Japan made the decision to freeze the assets of dozens of Russian and Belarusian officials and oligarchs, after earlier announcing sanctions targeting the country’s central bank and Russia’s access to the SWIFT international payments system. 

Apart from Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea announced sanctions against Russia.